Back in 2014, photographer Lora Scantling’s father was losing his fight to lung cancer, so she wanted to do something “that spoke a thousand words that would draw emotion”.
That something turned out to be photographing three little girls battling cancer.
“I chose childhood cancer because I also have a friend who had lost her little boy to cancer a few years before that,” she explained. “I put a post out on Facebook seeking little girls who were fighting cancer, and the portrait was born!”
This particular image is from 2015.
This is from 2016.
Scantling recently posted the 2017 version on her Facebook page, and as you can see, the girls are thriving.
“There needs to be more funding for childhood cancer so that they can update treatments,” Scantling said, citing the fact that only four percent of federal funding for cancer research is dedicated to pediatric cancers.
Rheann said, “Cancer is like a dragon,” to which Ainsley responded, “Yeah, and chemo is the prince.”
“Cancer messed with the wrong princesses!” Rylie added.
“They know what this portrait means to the world,” Scantling said. “They know they are making a difference.”